Author Archives: Ken Krause
Keeping an open mind on fastpitch drills
In the world of fastpitch softball there are tons of drills. Some I like, others I don’t. Yet sometimes even a drill you don’t particularly like can be effective if you’re willing to keep an open mind.
One such drill for me is the pitching drill where you get down on the ground in a runner’s starting stance, like you’re in blocks. You then go into the regular pitch from that start.
When I’ve seen it done, it often feels like it works against using the legs effectively. The pitchers are down so far that they have to raise themselves up first, which means they don’t get a good launch. It’s not my favorite.
But last week I had a girl who was having trouble leaning into the pitch. At launch she would pull her head up early and if anything lean back, which was killing her speed. So I suggested she get down into the starter position and try pitching from there.
One good thing was she didn’t quite get all the way down, so she started from a little better position. But that did the trick. She got the feel of launching head-first and driving out with her legs, and was rewarded with noticeably more speed.
So I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. Or at least get an old dog to try an old trick.
And once again it proves that the effectiveness of a drill is in the hands of the person running. That night we both learned something.
Definition of a good day
Today (or in actual fact tonight) was definitely a good day. Worked with four pitchers. One is almost ready to learn a new pitch. Two started on and pretty much got the hang of screwballs. Another had a curveball come together.
Gosh, I love this job!
Drill to help fastpitch hitters who drop their hands
A couple of weeks ago I was working with a 12U player named Carly who was having some issues with her hands dropping. The action of dropping her hands created somewhat of a looping swing.
The problem was she couldn’t feel it. So once again I brought out my trusty swim noodle. This time I placed it behind her, in an area I didn’t want the bat head to go. Her objective was to swing the bat without hitting the noodle.
At first, of course, she did hit the noodle. Here’s a slow motion video (taken later in the session) showing a “before” swing. (Notice the guilty grin after she hits the noodle.
After working on it for a bit we tried it again. Here’s the “after” swing, with Carly now taking the head of the bat on a more direct line to the ball instead of looping.
It’s a subtle difference but an important one. With this bat path she is now set up better to hit the ball more effectively.
By the way, back in the day I used to hold a bat behind the hitter, who would use an old bat in order not to damage her good one. But that became a bit intimidating. The noodle works much better, and allows the hitter to use her own bat.
As for Carly, we’re still early in her development as a hitter, but the noodle drill has been effective in helping her get rid of the looping swing. If you know a hitter who is having this dropping the hands issue, give it a try.
So what do you think? What drills or techniques do you use to address dropping the hands?
Keeping fastpitch pitchers on the power line
The other day I was working with a girl named Emily who has been a student of mine for several years. She’d always had a bit of a problem with striding off the power line, but after taking a year off from fastpitch softball it had become more of an issue.
Essentially, while she was striding off-line, she was working hard to keep her arm circle on the line. As a result she was off-balance, which affected both her control and speed. I tried a couple of things to try to get her on-track but they only had a temporary effect. Then a new cue hit me.
I told Emily to keep her bellybutton on the power line. That seemed to do the trick. Suddenly she was striding forward far more consistently, and staying in balance much better.
Once she was doing that, everything else fell into place. Her speed picked up and her accuracy improved.
If you have a pitcher who is struggling with these issues, give the bellybutton cue a try. It might just be what she needs to stay on line.
The Batterz Box — now you can try before you buy
Anyone who has ever purchased a fastpitch softball bat knows that unless you’re getting the same bat a teammate has it’s an act of supreme faith. You basically have two options.
One is to go online, check out a few user reviews and make a selection. You then wait one to ten days (depending on how much you’re willing to spring for freight) to see if you’ve made a good choice.
The other is to go to a local store, where you can pick it up, feel it, and see if it looks like it might be good. If you’re really gutsy, you might try to find a little open space in the store where you can take a few swings. (Just remember to look around to see if anyone is near you before you take that home run cut.)
Either way, it’s the equivalent of buying a car without a test drive. And given that a good bat these days costs about as much as a car payment you’re taking an awful chance — especially if you’ve waited until right before the season to make your purchase.
That’s why I was excited to check out a new store that opened in Libertyville, Illinois called The Batterz Box, which my friend Jill Griffin turned me on to. First of all, they offer a nice selection of the top-level bats from Louisville Slugger, Demarini, Easton and more instead of the low-to-mid-end bats you’ll usually find at a big box store. But what is really cool about it is you can actually try the bats out before you buy them, to make sure you find the one that’s right for you.
The Batterz Box has six small batting cages where you can bring a baseball or fastpitch softball bat you’re interested in, and then soft toss or front toss to see what it feels like when you swing it full out — and make contact. No more worrying about hitting some little kid running through the aisle at a big box store! I didn’t notice any tees there, but hopefully they’ll be putting some of those in as well.
The entire store is very clean and well-lit. They have a very good selection of bats, as well as catcher’s gear, gloves, mitts, bat bags and other gear. They say they’ll be getting more in as well, so if you check it out right now and don’t see what you want just let them know what you’re looking for.
It’s all serious gear too. You won’t find track suits or other clothing items made for people who want to look like they’re athletic when they’re really going to sit on the couch and eat potato chips. This is a store for players.
The director of softball operations is Michelle Oswald, who is an accomplished private instructor and the hitting coach for the Lake Forest College Forresters fastpitch softball team. Michelle has obviously put a lot of thought into what type of store she would’ve wanted as a player, and has advised the owners well.
So you’re probably wondering at this point how much of a premium you have to pay for this radical comment. But actually their pricing is the same as you’ll find on the Internet. Oswald told me they’re very careful about that. So not only do you get to try before you buy, you pay the same as on the Internet but without the wait. Or the freight charges.
If you’re in the Chicago area, either as a resident or a visitor, be sure to check it out (and tell them Ken Krause sent you; it doesn’t get you anything special but it always sounds good). The store is located at 1336 S. Milwaukee Avenue in Libertyville, in the Red Top shopping center. Their website is a work in progress right now, but you can like them on Facebook too to get more information.
Wish I would’ve thought to take a couple of photos while I was there. But I’m sure I’ll be back again, so I’ll take couple and post them then. Or if Michelle sees this maybe she can share a link.
And in case you’re wondering, no, I have no financial stake in The Batterz Box. I just think it’s really cool, and a place that will help fastpitch hitters (and players in general) up the level of their games by getting the equipment that’s right for them.
So what do you think? Cool concept? Do you know of anywhere else that you can do the same thing?
Finding time to practice
This is probably a pretty timely message for most fastpitch softball players. Especially those involved with other sports and activities.
With the holidays upon us we’re all pressed for time. Between our regular day-to-day activities and responsibilities, holiday shopping, trying to finish things up before the new year, etc. it can feel like there’s no way to squeeze out a little time for practicing.
Yet that’s not true — if you approach practicing the right way. There’s no law that says practice has to be at least a half hour long and conducted in a gym, on a field, or in some other athletic facility. Any space with enough room to stand in and swing your arms around a bit will do. And even putting in five or 10 minutes of working on something specific is better than doing nothing.
For example, pitchers who are having trouble getting their arm circle to stay on line (or loose) can stand with their feet planted and slowly work on it while watching themselves in a mirror. Do that for 10 minutes while you’re taking a break from studying and you’ll be amazed at how much better your arm circle is at your next full practice session.
The same goes for fielders. If you are having trouble working your crossover step, clear a little space on the floor of your bedroom and try it there. Hitters can work on getting the feel of driving their hips first, or taking a better path, or getting a proper weight shift. You get the idea.
The key is to take the little piece of a skill you’re having trouble with and work on that exclusively for a few minutes. This is the type of deep practice most players don’t like to do in a full session because they’re more focused on the full skill. But when time and space are limited, working on these little nuances can pay big dividends.
I listed a few suggestions. How ’bout you? What quick, specific things do you recommend players work on?
Flip a coin
No, this post isn’t about winning the coin flip at the beginning of a fastpitch softball game. It’s about helping players to understand the concept of playing the game one pitch at a time.
One of the famous trick questions often used in statistics classes is the question about flipping a coin. You start by asking what the odds are of flipping a “head” or “tail.” Most players, even young ones, know the odds are 50-50.
So then you follow up with this question: If I flip a coin 50 times and it comes up heads all 50 times, what are the odds the coin will come up tails the next time? Often times the player will say 100%. But the fact is the odds are still 50-50. Over a long period of time — say thousands of flips — you’ll probably see heads 50% of the time and tails 50% of the time. But on any given flip the odds are always 50-50. What has happened up until now has no effect on what will happen next.
And that’s the point you’re trying to make to a player — especially a hitter but it works for any position. No matter what happened on the last pitch, or the last at bat, or the last game, it has no effect or influence whatsoever on the upcoming pitch. So there’s no sense worrying about those. Instead, you just have to worry about what’s coming up next.
I see it a lot with hitters who tend to get behind in the count. Tell me if you’ve seen this pattern too. First pitch, the hitter doesn’t swing, doesn’t even plan on swinging, and the ball comes in for a perfect strike. She realizes she should’ve swung at it, so she makes up her mind to swing at the next pitch no matter what. That pitch is high, or in the dirt, and now she’s sitting at 0-2 and feeling bad about swinging at a bad pitch. So now she decides to be careful, she gets all uptight, and with the next pitch she’s taking that short walk back to the bench.
A lot of that comes from worrying about what happened on the previous pitches. It gets in her head and she loses the aggressive focus she needs to be successful.
By showing the coin toss you can make the point each pitch is a separate event, and the only way to approach the at bat is to keep looking forward and stay focused in that direction. It gives a little more context to the concept of “it only takes one to hit it.”
Hitters have enough to worry about without trying to hit more than one pitch at a time. Pitchers have enough to worry about without letting what happened the last time affect this time. And so on. Show your players the coin toss and help them understand that every pitch is an independent event — and an opportunity to be great.
Gotta love the boomerangs
As most people know, coaching fastpitch softball is not my day job. It is something I do on the side.
Instead, I work for technology PR company Tech Image, which is one of the business units of a company called SmithBucklin, which is the world’s largest association management company. It was SmithBucklin who introduced me to the term “boomerang,” which is the name they use for an employee who leaves the company then comes back.
This off-season I’ve had a couple of boomerangs. One was a short-term loss of a couple of months. A student had changed teams, the rest of the team was using a different pitching coach, they went along with it, the girl started to struggle and now she’s back. The other was actually two sisters whose family situation changed; their father contacted me during the summer and they’ve now started up again.
SmithBucklin always says the company loves boomerangs, and I can see why. While I always hate to lose a student, things happen from time to time. Circumstances change, sometimes the grass looks greener elsewhere, there can be all kinds of reasons. I find, though, that those who come back are often among the most enthusiastic students because they’ve had a taste of what else is out there and have made a conscious decision that being with me is the place they want to be.
That’s not to say I want every student to go away for awhile and come back. Far from it! I definitely appreciate those who stay from beginning to end. But where many instructors might feel funny about a student coming back after going away (probably because they take it personally) I welcome it.
What about you, whether you’re a private coach or a team coach? How do you feel when a player goes away then wants to come back? Do you welcome her back, or do you feel like once you’re gone you’re gone?
Book recommendation: The Score Takes Care of Itself
This may seem a little odd for a fastpitch softball blog, but I recently finished reading a book that I think is a must-read for every coach. It’s called The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership, by Bill Walsh with Steve Jamison.
Yes, it’s that Bill Walsh, the former San Francisco 49ers coach who was the brain behind the West Coast offense. While the book is ostensibly written as a guide on leadership for business leaders, there is a lot in there for any coach in any sport to learn. After all, coaching is a lot about leadership as well.
Now, you would think that a book like this would focus on his triumphs and how brilliant he is. Yet Walsh comes across as very humble, and is equally at home (maybe moreso) talking about his tribulations and failures.
I found the opening of the book particularly helpful. You see, this past summer was a rough one for me. I had a very good team with very good players, but somehow we just didn’t win as many games as we should have. I kept beating myself up, wondering why, when we’d do so many things right, we didn’t win more. Then I read this book.
It starts with Walsh talking about his first couple of seasons with the 49ers. He’d waited a long time to get a shot at being a head coach in the NFL, and finally got it with San Francisco.
The year before he joined them, he writes, they went 2-14. Then, in his first year as head coach, after instituting many changes and establishing his Standard of Performance, the 49ers went — wait for it — 2-14. The exact same record.
His second season they started off better, but then hit an eight-game losing streak. The 49ers were finally playing the Dolphins in a must-win game, and it came down to the last play. The Niners had three shots at a come from behind victory, but ultimately lost due to penalties on that final play.
Then came the part that really struck me. Walsh said on the plane ride home he broke down in tears and considered handing in his resignation. He just didn’t know whether he had what it took to be an NFL head coach. Fortunately he slept on it and by the time Monday came he’d decided to continue. His teams went on to win the Super Bowl the following year, and two more in 10 years while dominating the NFL.
For me, I figured if someone who had experienced so much success had also had so many difficulties, maybe I hadn’t done such a bad job after all. Maybe all we’d needed was a little more time for what I’d tried to do to take effect — time we didn’t have.
The book is full of anecdotes like that, along with plenty of practical, step-by-step advice on how to turn teams into classy champions. Yet Walsh is more than willing to share the things he did wrong as well as what he did well. He also spends a considerable amount of time on how to treat people — both players and people in the organization — that’s worth reading all on its own.
I know that for me, reading this book really helped me see my own coaching style and philosophy more clearly. I actually found myself thinking “yeah, I do that” at many points, and got many new ideas on how to improve on what I do.
This is a book I highly recommend every coach read. I think you’ll find it fascinating and inspiring. Walsh was always a class act, and in this day and age we can really use a lot more of that.
So what about you? What books have you read that have inspired or affected your coaching that way?
Why did I get slower?
In a perfect world, when a fastpitch player comes in for softball pitching lessons the first thing that would happen is she would immediately get faster. Unfortunately, often the opposite happens.
A player will come in throwing hard, but wildly and inconsistently due to poor mechanics. Then, as we work on correcting those mechanics, she notices a drop in speed. It’s usually not a lot, but enough to cause her some concern. Some can get quite frustrated, at which point they begin to wonder whether learning new mechanics is worth it.
But seeing a temporary loss of speed is fairly normal. And it makes sense when you think about it.
When that player walks in, she’s usually totally comfortable with what she’s doing. She may not like the results — too many walks or hit batsmen — but she is used to doing what she does. Which means she does it with 100 percent enthusiasm and effort.
When we start to change the mechanics, though, she is then out of her comfort zone. She actually has to think about what she’s doing, and because she is uncomfortable with the new mechanics she tends to be hesitant in her approach. The natural result is a loss of speed.
Think of it in terms of running. If you are assigned to run a 100 meter sprint, and do it with 100 percent effort, you will get a particular time. If you then run another sprint with 80 percent effort, you will almost certainly get a noticeably slower time. You wouldn’t expect it to be any different either.
The same applies to pitching. Until you are comfortable enough with the way you’re throwing the ball to go 100 percent, your speed will be down. But it’s a temporary effect.
Eventually, better mechanics should result in even more speed than you had before; you just have to have a little faith and patience to get there. And you’ll be more accurate to boot. It’s a win-win!
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 